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Sunday, 15 June 2014

The Party Padawans threw this awesome surprise party for their dad last night.

Daddy had made a TV date with Theo to watch England's first World Cup match when he got home from work so as it was nearly Father's Day we decided to mark the occasion with this little party.
I quickly designed some printables and the littlest padawan cut out the beer bottle labels and party circles.

We also made some doughnuts - Theo wanted Bannoffee with coffee! Recipe at the bottom of this post.

They had the perfect nibbles for watching footy - crisps, popcorn and a selection of sweets!

Directions:
1. Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Leave to stand for 5 minutes to allow the coffee to dissolve.
2. Mix again to combine the coffee. Spoon into a doughnut maker or doughnut tin.
3. Bake in oven at 180C/350F for 10 to 12 minutes or if using a doughnut maker for about 5 minutes.
4. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. To make the topping, melt chocolate over a bain-marie. Add toffee sauce and mix well.
6. Spread over cooled doughnuts and sprinkle with chocolate vermicelli.
7. Eat and enjoy!

That's it from us. Wishing you all a happy Father's Day
From Suz and the Party Padawans x

Saturday, 17 May 2014

I thought I would have a go at my first party round up today! I've been meaning to do one for ages but never quite gotten around to it!
With summer just around the corner I thought I would look at summer themed parties - so here are some of my favourite ideas I have found.

Ice Cream Party
Ice cream is the perfect summer treat and is perfect for indoor and outdoor parties (the weather in Scotland can be unpredictable so it's good to have plenty of indoor ideas!).

Provide your guests with plenty of toppings and sauces and don't forget you can include some yummy summer fruits for a healthier option!
I love the idea of an ice cream bar as you can use it on any scale and it can be set up quite quickly so if the kids have some friends round you could surprise them with a mini ice cream bar treat. You might find you have twice as many kids at your house the following week!

Watermelon Jellies
How about these cute little jellies for a watermelon themed party or just as a sweet way of serving up pudding?

Luau Party
An Hawaiian theme is great for summer. There are loads of UK based companies who stock Hawaiian themed party products too.

I think the use of buckets and spades in your summer party decor is a must!! You could use plastic buckets for a fun party or those little tin ones in pretty colours for a more chic sophisticated feel.

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Hello! It's me! Did you wonder where I'd gone? I've been spending some time with the family as the kids have been off school for the summer holidays for just over a week now and my eldest daughter has come home to stay for awhile (or maybe longer!).
The Alice In Wonderland party was a great success and we had gorgeous weather! I think it was the hottest day of the year so far!

Above, you can see a small coffee table with an old tea set I found in a charity shop and my 3 tired fruit basket which had little favours of tea bags and candy pouches for guests to enjoy.

The children at the party really enjoy the mini pick and mix bar. The sweets were mostly from a pound shop or on special offer from the supermarkets so weren't too expensive. At the back there are two fish bowl vases with lollipops and marshmallows and a old glass sweet stand from the charity shop. I also used popcorn treat boxes and food trays from my Wonderland range. Small candy bags and tongs were bought from Amazon.

Delicious red cake pops were also a huge hit with the little ones. You can also see two large tin buckets which we used for popcorn and crisps.

I'm not much of a flower arranger but I'm really pleased with the arrangements I did using teapots and these tea cup garden decorations. Once again, I kept prices down by buying these from a pound shop and I simply repainted them to match the colour scheme.

Some bunting from the Wonderland range.

This juice dispenser was a great find at John Lewis. The kids really liked the fact they could get their own drink without having to have an adult open up tight lids on bottles.

Cute mini tea set in a spotty suitcase! Perfect for decorating this party.

This is a selection canvases my daughter painted. They should have hanging around the marquee but it was quite windy and the sides were blowing in a lot so we decided it was safer if they went on the ground.

My friend made these cool signs which we nailed to a tree!

Theo as the Doormouse posing in my photobooth frame! Nienna and Lorien added some red hearts for the occasion.

Monday, 13 May 2013

Well, I haven't gone completely mad (yet!) but myself and all 3 of the kids have gone a little Alice In Wonderland mad as we are planning a Wonderland Tea Party at the beginning of July. The party is an opportunity to get together with friends, who pretty much all have children so having a theme makes things more interesting. Last year we had a Great British Garden Party!! I'm hosting the party jointly with my best friend who will probably be donating her garden for the party and I of course am taking care of anything printable and lots of other ideas.

There are so many ideas out there for this theme and I'm not surprised as it's really such a great theme and can be done lavishly or simply, in a vintage style, kids style or gothic for teenagers or halloween.

At the moment I'm working on some of the original illustrations by John Tenniel. These will then be incorporated into the printables I'll design. I'm working towards a child friendly vintage style for my party.

We've been making lists of things we can do to carry our theme. Here are a few we've come up with:
Tags saying "drink me" to be tied to bottles and the mini jars I've been collecting
Cakes and cake pops with "eat me" iced onto them
Lots of old vintage style teacups, plates and teapots which we'll gather from charity shops
Some photo props to go with my new photo booth frame (Blog on how to make this will follow in the next week or so)
Playing cards to be used as easy and cheap decorations
A paper mache door (obviously quite small) and key. The kids would like me to make huge paper mache tables and chairs too but I don't think that will happen!
I think the first two ideas on the list are must haves for any Alice party. Add in a few playing cards and you could have a really easy themed party (just add tea!! Whaich is always a must in my book!!).
My eldest daughter has been painting some Alice In Wonderland canvases which we'll use to decorate the marquee.
We are also asking that guests join in with the theme and dress up as a character from Alice in Wonderland. I think a few husbands are already been measured for their Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee costumes!!

As this isn't a birthday (it will most definitely be an un-birthday party!!) and we have invited lots of people we won't be doing any favours for each guest to take away (although the party planner in me will probably have to do something, so I'm thinking teabags wrapped in special Alice wrappers might be good!). I will be making some special favour printables for the set though and also include anything else I think will be useful for different kinds of parties.

So for now I bid you all adieu and I'll get back to work on these pictures. Watch out for more posts on this party in the coming months as the preparations take shape as well as posts on my son's jungle birthday party and a "How to" guide on making a large frame for awesome photos.
If you would like something designed just for you and your party then please just get in touch to discuss your ideas.
Take Care
Suz and the kidywinks xx